Revenge had elfe been swift-So high I hold
The honour of a foldier and a king

I won't think your master meant to wrong me.
Let him beware however-jealous friendship
And beauty's tender fame can brook no flights.
What in a foe I pardon or defpife

Is deadly from a friend, and fo to be repaid.
Seof. Whatever fame or ancient story tells
Of brother's love or celebrated friends,
Whofe faith in perils oft' and oft' in death
Severely had been try'd and never broke,
Such is the truth and fuch the grateful mind
Of royal Hengift to the princely Offa.

Nor you, fair princefs! [To Rodogune.] frown if wars and troubles,

If watchful councils and if cares, which wait
On kings, the nurfing fathers of their people,
Withhold a while the monarch from your arms.

Rod. When fierce Ambrofius leads the Britons forth,
Thunders in arms and shakes the dusty field,
It fuits thy wary master's caution well

To fit with dreaming hoary heads at council,
And waste the midnight taper in debates;
But let him ftill be wife, confult his fafety,
And trouble me no more. Does he fend thee
With tales of dull refpect and faint excufes;
Tell him he might have fpar'd the formal meffage
Till fome kind friend had told him how I languith'd,
How like a turtle I bemoan'd his abfence.

Seof. Pardon, fair Excellence! if falt'ring age
Profanes the paffion I was bid to paint,
And drops the tale imperfect from my tongue.
But lovers beft can plead their cause themselves;
And fee your flave the King, my mafter, comes
Το
move your gentle heart with faithful vows,
And pay his humble homage at your feet.

Enter the KING, Guards, and other Attendants.
King. But that I trust not to that babbler Fame,
Who careless of the majefty of kings

Scatters lewd lies among the crowd, and wins
The easy idiots to believe in monsters,

B

I fhould have much to charge you with my brother:

I ftand accus'd

Of. How Sir!

King. So fpeaks report,

As wanting to my honour and my friend;
By you I ftand accus'd.

Of. Now by our friendship,

If that be yet an oath, refolve me Hengist

Whence are these doubts between us, whence this coldness?
Say, thou who know'ft, what sudden fecret thought
Has stepp'd between and dafh'd the publick joy.
Thou call'ft me Brother; wherefore wait the priests,
And fuffer Hymen's holy fires to languish?
What hinders but that now the rites begin,
That now we lofe all thoughts of paft difpleasure,
And in the temple tie the facred knot

Of love and friendship to endure for ever?

King. What hinders it indeed but that which makes This medley war within, but that which causes This fickness of the foul, and weighs her down With more than mortal cares?

Of. What fhall I call

This fecret gloomy grief that hides its head
And loves to lurk in fhades? Have royal minds
Such thoughts as fhun the day?

King. Urge me no farther,

But like a friend be willing not to know
What to reveal would give thy friend a pain.
Be ftill the partner of my heart, and share
In arms and glory with me; but oh! leave,
Leave me alone to ftruggle thro' one thought,
One fecret anxious pang, that jars within me,
That makes me act a madman's part before thee,
And talk confufion-If thou art my friend
Thou haft heard me, and be fatisfy'd-if not,
I have too much defcended from myself
To make the mean request-But rest we here.
To you, fair princess-

Rod. No!-there needs no more,

For I would fpare thee the unready tale.

Know, faithlefs King! I give thee back thy vows,
And bid thee fin fecure, be fafely perjur'd,

Since if our gods behold thee with my eyes
Their thunder fhall be kept for nobler vengeance,
And what they fcorn like me they fhall forgive.

King. When anger lightens in the fair one's eyes
Lowly we bow as to offended Heav'n,
With blind obedience and fubmiffive worship,
"Nor with too curious boldness rafhly reafon
"Of what is juft or unjuft; fuch high pow'r
"Is to itself a rule and cannot err:

"Yet this may be permitted me to speak,"
Howe'er the prefent circumftance reproach me,
Yet ftill my heart avows your beauty's pow'r,
My eyes confefs you fair-

Rod. Whate'er I am

Is of myfelf, by native worth exifting,
Secure and independent of thy praise;
Nor let it seem too proud a boast if minds
By nature great are conscious of their greatness,
And hold it mean to borrow ought from flatt'ry.
King. You are offended Lady.

Rod. Hengift no.

Perhaps thou think'ft this gen'rous indignation
That blushing burns upon my glowing check,
And sparkles in my eyes a woman's weakness,
"The malice of a poor forfaken maid

"Who rails at faithlefs man"-Miftaken Monarch!-For know e'en from the first my foul difdain'd thee, Nor am I left by thee but thou by me:

"So was thy falfehood to my will fubfervient, "And by my purpose bound. Thus man, tho' limited "By Fate, may vainly think his actions free, "While all he does was at his hour of birth "Or by his gods or potent flars ordain'd." Of. No more my fifter; let the gownmen talk, And mark out right and wrong in noify courts, While the brave find a nearer way to juftice; They hold themselves the balance and the fword, And fuffer wrong from none. 'Tis much beneath me To afk again the debt you owe to honour, So that be fatisfy'd we ftill are friends And brothers of the war: but mark me Hengift; I am not us'd to wait, and if this day

Pafs unregarded as the former two
Soon as to-morrow dawns expect me-
King. Where?

Of. Arm'd in the field-

Seof. to the King.] Befeech you Sir be calm,
The valiant prince-

Of. Tho' I could wifh it otherwife:
And fince the honour of the Saxon name
And empire here in Britain refts upon thee,
Believe me I would still be found thy friend.

[Exeunt Offa, Rodogune, and Attendants.
King. No, I renounce that friendship: perish too,
Perish that name and friendship both for ever!
What are the kingdoms of the peopled earth,
What are their purple and their crowns, to me,
If I am curs'd within, and want that
Which ev'ry flave enjoys?

Seof. My royal master,

peace

It racks my aged heart to fee you thus;

But oh! what aid, what counsel, can I bring you,
When all yon' eastern down, ev'n to the furge
That bellowing beats on Dover's chalky cliff,
With crefted helmets thick embattled fhines?
With these your friends what are you but the greatest?
With thefe your foes-Oh! let me lofe that thought,
And rather think I fee you Britain's king,
Ambrofius vanquifh'd, and the fartheft Picts
Submitted to your sway, tho' the fame scene
Difcover'd to my view the haughty Rodogune
Plac'd on your throne and partner of your bed.
King. What! fhould I barter beauty for ambition,
"Forfake my heav'n of love to reign in hell,"
Take a domeftick Fury to my breast,

And never know one minute's peace again?
Statefman, thou reafon'ft ill: by mighty Thor,
Who wields the thunder, I will rather chufe
To meet their fury. Let 'em come together
Young Offa and Ambrofius: tho' my date
Of mortal life be fhort it fhall be glorious;
Each minute fhall be rich in fome great action,
To fpeak the king, the hero, and the lover.

Seof. The hero and the king are glorious names;

"But oh, my mafter! wherefore is the lover?"
In honour's name remember what you are,
Break from the bondage of this feeble paffion,
And urge your way to glory; leave with scorn
Unmanly pleafures to unmanly minds,

And thro' the rough the thorny paths of danger
Afpire to virtue and immortal greatnefs.

King. Hence with thy hungry, dull, untimely, morals, The fond deluding fophiftry of schools!

Who would be great but to be happy too?

"And
yet fuch idiots are we to exchange
"Our peace and pleafure for the trifle glory."
What is the monarch mighty, rich, and great?
What but the common victim of the state,
Born to grow old in cares, to waste his blood,
And ftill be wretched for the publick good?
"So by the priests the nobleft of the kind
"Is to atone the angry gods defign'd,

"And while the meaner fort from death are freed
"The mighty bull that wont the herd to lead
"Is doom'd for fatal excellence to bleed."

[Exeunt.

}

ACT II.

Enter the KING and SEO FRID.

KING.

No more of thefe unneceffary doubts;
Thy cold thy cautious age is vainly anxious,
Thy fears are inaufpicious to my courage,
And chill the native ardour of my foul.
This fullen cloudy fky that bodes a ftorm
Shall clear, and ev'ry danger fleet away;
Our Saxons fhall forget the prefent discord,
And urge the Britons with united arms;
Hymen fhall be aton'd, shall join two hearts
Agreeing, kind, and fitted for each other,
And Aribert fhall be the pledge of peace.
Seof. Propitious god of Love! incline his heart
To melt before her eyes, to meet her wishes,